"If they trap him—yes—but he's a very intelligent young man. He'll be too smart for them. I feel it. I know it——"
He stopped and looked at her quizzically:
"I've a sort of second sight that tells me such things. I saw General Sickles in the hospital after Gettysburg. They said he couldn't live. I told him he would get well and he did."
Again the President returned restlessly to the operator's room and Betty followed him to the door. He waited a long time in silence, shook his head and turned away. He had almost reached the door when suddenly the operator sprang to his feet livid with excitement:
"Wait—Mr. President!—It's come—my God, it's here!"
Every operator was on his feet listening in breathless excitement to the click of that Southern wire.
The President had rushed back to the table.
"It's for you, sir!"
"Read it then—out with it as you take it!" he cried.
"Atlanta, Georgia, September 3rd, 1864."